U.S. Home Equity

We’re house rich!  That’s right, as a country, we have over $31.5 Trillion worth of equity in our homes.  That’s Trillion, with a T.  This is the second highest number ever recorded by the St. Louis Federal Reserve, who tracks this data, with only the second quarter of 2022 being higher.  That averages out to around $200,000 per household.  That’s a lot of equity that can be tapped.  While rates were very low, some homeowners would refinance their loans and take out extra cash.  Now, with rates at 7% or more, that’s not too popular.  Instead, the use of home equity loans and home equity lines of credit have increased 50% compared to two years ago.  Of course, borrowing against your homes equity has risks – if you can’t pay it back, you could lose your house.  Some people like to put home equity to use by leveraging it and others prefer the Dave Ramsey approach by having a debt free home.